1. Field
This disclosure relates to a system and a method to measure wind profile for the purpose of improving the aiming accuracy of a shooter.
2. Background Art
Many factors contribute to ballistic aiming accuracy at long distances away from a target. Improving the accuracy is vital for marksman and snipers where often times achieving a “first hit” is the only successful resolution to a situation. An expert sniper can hit a target from 800-1000 yards away. However, if a sniper could accurately engage targets at 2000 yards away, the sniper would be out of the range of most counter-sniper small arms fire and the risk to the shooter would be minimized. As is well known, accuracy diminishes as the shooting distance increases. One reason for the lower accuracy is varying environmental conditions between the sniper and the target that cannot normally be precisely determined.
The use of sensors to measure certain environmental conditions, such as temperature, and humidity, are known to be used to aid a shooter in hitting the target. Other sensors typically utilized by marksman and snipers measure an angle of the weapon with respect to the target and distance to the target. However, there are currently no known sensors to accurately measure wind profile, which is one of the most difficult factors to account for when aligning a target. Wind profile, e.g., direction and speed, may vary along the path between the shooter and the target. The ability for a shooter to also compensate for the wind profile will help to increase the range at which the shooter can accurately hit the target on the first shot.